Northern Iraq’s Kurdish region braces for referendum
ERBIL, IRAQ – APRIL 11: Erdelan Nureddin, an MP for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) speaks to reporters in Erbil on April 11, 2017. A meeting was held last week between Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) leaders and Iraqi officials discussed a planned referendum on the political fate of northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, according to a Kurdish lawmaker. ‘The planned referendum will be held in September, alongside [KRG] presidential and parliamentary polls,” Erdelan Nureddin, an MP for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told Anadolu Agency. ‘The date for the referendum has already been conveyed to senior officials in Baghdad,’ he added. Last week, a KRG delegation held talks in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum and Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabour